Maui’s Top 5 Engagement and Proposal Locations for Photo & Video

Having been blessed with being born and raised here on Maui and a wedding film-maker for the last 14 years, I’ve filmed just about everywhere on Maui. Here are my top 5 locations for an engagement or proposal photo or video shoot.

Olowalu Pier, Olowalu
Po’Olenalena Beach, Wailea
Honolua Rain Forest, Honolua
Ironwoods Beach, Kapalua
Thompson Road, Kula

Disclaimer: Do not shoot at any of these locations without looking into permits and authorization
if using hired professionals. Check with your wedding coordinator, photographer or the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) for what you need.

Olowalu Pier

Located on Maui’s West Shore next to Olowalu Plantation House, this is one of my very favorite wedding venues. The pier is actually public (the house is obviously private), and you can park in a public parking lot so you don’t have to go through private property at all. Also please give priority to any wedding couple doing their sunset shots as they have paid a lot of money to have their wedding next door. This pier has amazing sunsets and great light shooting in a variety of directions. The way it sits over the water is breath taking and the location is perfect for epic drone shots. This is personally one of my favorite places to shoot any couple because I can drone, glidecam and shoot a variety of beautiful ways in one location. This location can be busy on weekends so I’d recommend going there on a weekday. Leoda’s bakery is across the street and has award winning pies and great sandwiches. To get there turn onto Olowalu Village Road, Lahaina, HI then take a left immediately and your first right will put you in a shabby looking parking lot.

Olowalu Pier (First 15 seconds)

Po'olenalena Beach, Makena

Located on Maui’s South Shore, this is a very popular spot for beach weddings especially at sunset.
But the beach is big and there are typically no problems of space for everyone. The way the coast is, it tends to not be too windy, the sunsets are amazing, parking convenient and there’s a variety of places to shoot. We like to take our couples up into the Keawe grove to the right of the parking lot for some unique lens flair lighting and forest feel (wear footwear as Kiawe has thorns), then we walk over to the beach for your timeless Maui beach sunset shots. Afterwards I recommend grabbing the best Mai-Tai I’ve ever had at Monkeypod 🙂

Po'olenalena beach with shots from Haiku Mill

Honolua Rain Forest

Located on Maui’s Northwest Shore, this location is completely unique to Maui. It feels like you are in a prehistoric wonderland of green, something you’d find in Avatar or Jurassic Park.
The canopy, vines and carpet of green makes for beautiful backdrops and foreground for your photo and video. The even light is usually very flattering and also can have beautiful cathedral beams of light shining through the canopy. It’s also fairly empty here. One word of warning, the mosquitos can be extremely bad so bring lots of spray. After you are done here, I recommend going either out to the rocks in front of the rainforest at sunset or driving down to my next recommendation, Ironwoods beach.

Proposal Video Honolua Forest

Ironwoods Beach, Kapalua

Also located on Maui’s Northwest side about 15 minutes South from Honolua Rain Forest, Ironwoods beach has a nice beach, boardwalk and dramatic cliffs. Ironwoods beach has a small parking lot and you walk down the steps. At the beach you will find a nice boardwalk, great for walking pictures.
The beach is typically fairly mellow. One issue with the beach the way it faces you can’t really see the sunset from the there but that’s okay because at the end of the boardwalk there are dramatic cliffs which do see the sunset, less than a 10 minute walk from the parking lot. I think between Honolua and Ironwoods makes
for good spectrum of shots form the green valley forest feel of Honolua to the Beach and Cliffs of Ironwoods. Then Merriman’s for dinner makes for a perfect way to end the evening!
Merriman’s is an amazing restaurant and one of my favorite Maui wedding venues.

Proposal Film Honolua Forest and Ironwoods Beach

Thompson Road, Kula

Kula, located Upcountry, Maui is at about 3000 feet above sea and Thompson Road is a very popular walking road especially on the weekends. Locals and tourists alike frequent this road for the beautiful views, crisp air, bicoastal views and green pastures. It’s offers a unique feel of country vintage esthetics but also Maui’s ocean views. It has a unique feel and light that makes for gorgeous shots. If going up there be sure to stop off at Grandma’s Coffee shop for an amazing breakfast and good cup of coffee.

There are so many more amazing locations on Maui for engagement and proposals, these are just the ones I think are great!

If you have more you’d like to share please let me know!

Enjoy!

HI FOCUSED – hifocused.com – 808 281-1530 – jordan@hifocused.com